Ouch, Ouch, Ouch

So next Thursday is the date when I register Will for pre-k. Before then, we had to get him caught up on his vaccinations. As a family, we haven't had health insurance since Will was two. We're very lucky that we haven't really needed it.

The one thing I have missed the most is the ability to take Will in for his well kid checkups. The few times I have had to take him to the doctor in the last few years have been for sinus infections or something similar; not a good time to catch up on vaccinations or just have him looked at.

I called the doctor I've been using to see if they had a discount program for non-insurance customers to help cover the cost of vaccines and was told they'll take the standard 20 percent off the cost of the bill. I don't know the exact cost of the vaccines that Will needs, or even how many. But most vaccines run between $30-$70 each at a doctors office. Besides missing the last two years of vaccines, a brand new one is required as well, so this could get expensive quick.

(Just a quick note, but I found out that to get the required vacinations for a child from birth to age 12 will run you almost $1,200 -- doctor's visits not included.)

While at the library, I noted a poster for free vaccines being given at the health department one day this month. I was terrified about how busy this place was going to be, but decided to call them up and get some more information. While looking them up on the web I found that our local health department offers all the vaccines your child needs for only $10 per child -- regardless of how many they need. They only offer them on Monday and Tuesday and it's only a few hours each day. So I decided to go to my nearest branch the following day, which was Tuesday.

Will and I showed up at 1:00, when they were suppose to open and when we got our number we were number 15. It was 2:50 before we were called up to pay our fee and fill out paperwork. It was 3:20 when were called back to get the vaccines. Almost two and a half hours in a small, hot waiting room filled with non-native English speakers and TONS of loud kids (the least of which was not mine). I took Will's leapster, but he wouldn't play it. Hiding under tables and chairs, running around the a pole support, screaming at children that didn't speak his language, and hitting me at every opportunity were much more fun.

At least I didn't have to worry about his crying or being worried about the visit. It's been so long since he got a shot, he had no idea what they were. And I didn't bother to tell him. Which the nurse we saw didn't like a bit. She immediately explained, in great detail, what she was about to do. Still didn't bother Will, he didn't have a clue.

It ended up that my little guy had to get four shots; two in each thigh. The first one he didn't even bat an eye, he was shocked by the second, jerking away by the third, and swinging by the forth. He cried, but very little. She gave him a hug and a coupon for a free ice cream; which we immediately went and got.

When I got home I gave him some Tylenol and talked him into working out on my treadmill. I explained that working his muscles would make the medicine move and it wouldn't hurt as bad. As the Tylenol wore off later, he did hurt. I redoped him, but as he walked through the house you would hear, "Ouch, Ouch, Ouch." Every step, with either foot, produced an "ouch" for about an hour.

He went to bed easily and we put heating packs on his legs which seem to help. But he informed the nurse, me, Steve, Tori, and every other person he saw for the next two days that he "did not like shots".

Yep, he knows what they are now. Ouch.